


Affine Spaces

by Gileonnen



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Cozy Domestic Threesomes, M/M, Mathematics as Art, Multi, N-Dimensional Mathematical Modeling, Pahanin Keeper of Grudges, Romantic Conversations about Soldering, Temporal Mechanics, The Agonies of Peer Review, Vex Computational Arrays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21980605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gileonnen/pseuds/Gileonnen
Summary: Praedyth and Kabr use Vex tech to complete a complex mathematical proof, then contemplate their next challenge: peer review.
Relationships: Kabr/Pahanin/Praedyth (Destiny)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 25





	Affine Spaces

Praedyth closes his last parenthesis and submits his proof. Kabr's transformation engine hums as it renders the mathematical grammar into something that the Vex computational array can read--something that lets the order of operations shift and slip to posit the equation in a trillion temporal instances.

The computational array shivers to life, feeding in dummy data for every variable, tracing fractal patterns in uncountable iterations. Affine spaces blossom as functions call them into being. Planes shift, spin, reconnect; the model of an n-dimensional space collapses into three dimensions, and even then, Praedyth can only barely follow it. But he _can_ follow it. He skims the shuddering mathematical model and feels the equation reflected in him at the molecular level--at a level deeper than molecular, beneath which time ceases to flow in one direction and instead heaves and rolls like the sea.

For a moment, Praedyth feels the way he did when he first encountered Vex tech. When he knew so little that the intricacies of their world seemed possible to grasp.

He reaches for Kabr's hand and lets it enfold him. "Osiris will burst a vein when he sees this," Praedyth murmurs.

"You're planning to show him?" Kabr's brows go down. The light of the array picks out every wrinkle and furrow in his skin.

"We'll have to eventually, if we plan to submit for peer review. The Speaker can deny it all he likes--Osiris is an expert on Vex temporal mechanics. If anyone can pick out a flaw in our model, it's him."

"And believe me, he _will_ find flaws," says Pahanin, setting down a tray of drinks: plum wine, honeyed bourbon with orange, hot rice whiskey. "If your ideas are unimpeachable, he'll savage your margins. Pillory you for your kearning. He'll claim you've chosen one of the fifteen forbidden fonts, and you'll never publish in academia again."

"His comments on your Mercury retrospective weren't _that_ bad--" Kabr begins, but by now Pahanin is on a tirade, and Praedyth sits back with his wine to enjoy the show.

"He demanded a retraction! Three tiny typographical errors, and just because one of them _happened_ to be a date, he called it 'ill-informed pablum for those who seek a surface-level understanding'! As though I hadn't spent three months neck-deep in geological surveys, neglecting my fireteam--thank you both again for your unwavering patience, by the way--"

"Your concern is appreciated," says Kabr, "but I'm prepared to put my neck on the line for this. Praedyth's equations work."

"You say that as though they aren't as much yours as mine," Praedyth chides. "You built the transformation engine. You've spent countless nights experimenting with the array. You wrote a solid third of this proof."

Kabr nibbles his orange slice. "Only the easy parts," he mutters. He's too dark to color much, but Praedyth knows when he's blushing all the same.

Sliding into his lap, Pahanin kisses his temple. "Is it really so hard to accept that you're as much a genius as Praedyth is? I'm proud of you. Of both of you. And I look forward to hearing you explain the basic principles to me when I'm having trouble sleeping."

"As though you wouldn't find the engineering aspect fascinating," Kabr says with a snort. "We'd be up until dawn comparing soldering techniques and debating phaseglass versus silicon."

"Is there any more romantic conversation?" With the hand not holding his whiskey mug, Pahanin tips Kabr's chin up to kiss his lips. "I mean it. You've achieved something monumental here, and nothing Osiris says will change that. So be proud of what you've done, tell Osiris to go fuck himself, and look forward to your next great discovery."

Praedyth turns back to the model, sketched out across the air in a billion, trillion points of white light. If he lets his eyes go unfocused, he can almost see the points where the equations shift and pivot around a single line of code, a single undefined variable--then he blinks, and there's only an elegant armature of fractals and Platonic solids, twisting into infinity.


End file.
